Profile
Photos
Comments
Gay therapist Michael Shernoff
Founded safe-sex workshop
By BRUCE WEBER
The New York Times
June 22, 2008
NEW YORK
 |
<A TARGET="_blank"
HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/activity;src%3D1572166%3Bmet%3D1%3Bv%3D1%3Bpid%3D27696153%3Baid%3D204650273%3Bko%3D0%3Bcid%3D27023221%3Brid%3D27041078%3Brv%3D1%3Bcs%3Dw%3Beid1%3D1031%3Becn1%3D1%3Betm1%3D0%3B_dc_redir%3Durl%3fhttps://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/36e7/3/0/%2a/g%3B204650273%3B0-0%3B0%3B27696153%3B4307-300/250%3B27023221/27041078/1%3B%3B%7Eaopt%3D0/ff/ecce/ff%3B%7Efdr%3D204610690%3B0-0%3B0%3B15731982%3B4307-300/250%3B27044087/27061944/1%3B%3B%7Eaopt%3D3/1/ecce/0%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttps://www.ritzcarlton.com/incoming.asp?rcreskey=vemail&rcresval=PSE08_rc_x_genl&targetURL=/en/Promotions/Reconnect/Default.htm?utm_source=rch%26utm_medium=banner%26utm_campaign=SESumFamilyCMJun08">
<IMG SRC="https://m1.2mdn.net/1572166/PID_644742_300x250.gif"
width="300" height="250" BORDER="0" alt="Click Here!"> </A> <IMG
SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/activity;src=1572166;met=1;v=1;pid=27696153;aid=204650273;ko=0;cid=27023221;rid=27041078;rv=1;×tamp=2239603;eid1=9;ecn1=1;etm1=0;"
width="0px" height="0px" style="visibility:hidden" BORDER="0"/> <IMG
SRC="" width="0px" height="0px" style="visibility:hidden" BORDER="0"/>
<IMG SRC="" width="0px" height="0px" style="visibility:hidden"
BORDER="0"/> <a
href="https://a.collective-media.net/jump/cm.sunsentinel/;sz=300x250;click0=;ord=2237681?"
target="_blank"><img
src="https://a.collective-media.net/ad/cm.sunsentinel/;sz=300x250;click0=;ord=2237681?"
width="300" height="250" border="0" alt=""></a> <a
href="https://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.sunsentinel/news/obits;ptype=ps;slug=sfl-floshernoffsbjun22;rg=ur;ref=sun-sentinelcom;pos=1;sz=300x250;tile=1;ord=25566810?"
target="_blank"><img
src="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/trb.sunsentinel/news/obits;ptype=ps;slug=sfl-floshernoffsbjun22;rg=ur;ref=sun-sentinelcom;pos=1;dcopt=ist;sz=300x250;tile=1;ord=25566810?"
width="300" height="250" border="0" alt=""></a>
Michael Shernoff, a psychotherapist who, beginning in the early years
of the AIDS epidemic, wrote widely on its emotional toll on gay men and
who organized an early safe-sex workshop, died Tuesday at his home in
Manhattan. He was 57.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, his brother Jeffrey said.
In his practice and in his writing, Mr. Shernoff confronted the
realities of homosexual life with bluntness and compassion. In essays
and books and as a mental health columnist for the Web site
TheBody.com, he cast a sympathetic but analytical eye on individual
behavior that was both common and potentially injurious, taking on
subjects like gay promiscuity, gay Internet cruising, gay body image
and the muscle culture.
He wrote about losing a partner to AIDS and edited a book on the subject, Gay Widowers: Life After the Death of a Partner (Harrington Park Press, 1997). In his latest book, Without Condoms: Unprotected Sex, Gay Men and Barebacking (Routledge, 2005), he examined the growing phenomenon of gay men returning to the pre-AIDS practice of unprotected sex.
"As HIV ravaged the gay community in the 1980s, people with AIDS wasted
away and frequently looked gravely ill," he wrote in a 2001 essay for The Gay and Lesbian Review called
"Steroids and the Pursuit of Bigness." "It's no coincidence that the
interest in pumping-up by gay men began during the early days of the
epidemic, at least in part as a response to what was happening in our
community."
Mr. Shernoff learned in 1982 that he was
HIV-positive and in his practice was a proponent of the idea that the
specter of AIDS need not curtail anyone's sex life.
